Yo P&J, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but ILX had the greatest 2009 poll of all time! All time! (2009 ILX Trax Poll Results: TOP TEN TODAY)

but yeah, I could do this forever. while i can't always explain the awesomeness of taylor's songs holistically, I can always describe them as collections of wonderfully evocative moments.

"my mistake; i didn't know to be in love you had to fight to have the upper hand." is another gem from white horse

and through the weirdness of brain linkage is forever tied in my mind to Los Campesinos!, viz.

I taught myself the only way to vaguely get along in love
Is to like the other slightly less than you get in return
I keep feeling like I'm being undercut

On another note entirely, I am listening to "Daniel" for the first time and really digging it. Feel like these people are on a similar kick to me personally - Yamaha chamber music. I could do with dialing down the "frosty reverb" or whatever on the vocals but this is nice stuff. #2 of the year I dunno but I have no beef with this.

"Daniel" took some time to click with me because while I really dig the vocals and I also dig the instrumental 80s wash, they felt mismatched for some reason. and then at some point everything just clicked and my brain realized how marvelous it is. the "frosty reverb" was probably my gripe as the 80s wash on the production holds it back from the totally epic majesty that i suspect is buried in here, but that's not what she's going for, i suppose.

"Daniel" suffered a ton for me because I discovered it at the same time as "What's A Girl To Do?" and the latter is like far and away a massively superior song; it took maybe a couple of months for me to go "oh wait, that other song was pretty dope too" and this was after buying Two Suns mistakenly thinking that "WAGTD?" was on it.

fwiw glenn mcdonald offered to gove ilx polls the same crazy data crunching treatment he gave pazz & jop and i think we should take him up on it

agreed

I agree very much with Alex in Montreal's string of comments on Swift and "White Horse."

Hey, do we know when the album poll results will start to be posted? Next week?

yeah monday iirc

on another note entirely, I am listening to "Daniel" for the first time and really digging it.

me too, the song has pretty amazing production. reminds me a LOT of the el perro del mar ep- if you like "daniel" pls pls check out 'love is not pop'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJn-nUCzQLk

^hoping this doesn't embed (never tried it this way, so apologies if it does)

gah, sry ppl

I voted for Love is Not Pop in the albums poll, but totally overlooked "Change of Heart" in singles voting. Wish I'd made a point of including it, even if it wouldn't have cracked the top 50.

"Daniel" and "My Girls" are both really good but not like omgwtf-awesome.. I still don't see what the big deal is with either of these. I'm ok with both of them placing so high on this list, but mostly because they've placed just as high everywhere else, which gives me a sense of "missing out.." but not to the extent where I actually care all that much. They do, however, make me wish that mainstream commercial radio would broaden their playlists to include stuff like the songs listed on this thread..

"Daniel" also reminds me of "Smalltown Boy."

I should rephrase that one sentence.. It makes me wish mainstream radio played nearly all of these songs.. I know about 15-20 of them are constantly played on there already.

I just found out that The Yeasayers boys produced "Daniel", so I guess I should give them a listen.

"My Girls" stands on its own as a good song outside if AnCo - witness the Taken By Trees version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9wX3jg1p7Y

^ if = of

I just found out that The Yeasayers boys produced "Daniel", so I guess I should give them a listen.

It shows a lot more in Odd Blood than the first album, which everyone seems to think has a couple good songs and then loses itself. Odd Blood is pretty fantastic front to back, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARs5IYQyzOQ

What does and ILXOR think of this mix by Dam Funk?

stomps out the original

Really enjoyed this - for whatever reason i always manage to miss out on even the stuff that everyone else has heard, so lurking here is just f'ing great for catching up. Any year w'out a new Fall album (best not engage in arguments about vox) is a bereft one, but hearing Trap Goin Ham on this list has definitely filled the void. If I hadn't got an internet mard on, wd've definitely voted for 9x out of 10, which I seemed to listen to pretty much on a loop throughout July, while never really getting in to the album.

Only song to really have me scrambling urgently for the off button was the Lust for Life Girls track. I'm a sucker for Taylor Swift things, so happy with the winner. Slightly ambivalent about The-Dream, think the Love v Money diptych (really lyrical, abstract, sweet and strange at the same time) is just amazing, and hoping that the rest of the album will creep up on me in the same way. Oh, love the Arming Eritrea.

Thanks musically! Looking forward to the albums.

alex is correct about the last chorus of "white horse" - not only is it devastatingly effective in itself, but it also casts a different light on the whole song that's just gone past, a slight tilt of the rearview mirror and you see everything in a different perspective.

it's probably why "white horse" is my default favourite fearless joint (it's an album where in any given hour, pretty much any of its tracks could be my favourite) - compositionally it just blows me away. i guess it's probably the best indication of how swift might progress when she can't write about high school any longer (ie, next album).

on the next album she can write about john mayer. ugh.

(i feel like i need to wash my hands just reading about sex with john mayer. taylor needs a hazmat suit.)

worst url ever :((((((((

Something kind of creepy about that on his part tbf - I mean if she was the whitebread outcast she claims to be she probably has been idolizing the guy since she was 12.

mayer is a disgusting horndog--this is well-known.

my horndog has a last name, it's m-a-y-e-r

Now listening to "Arming Eritrea" for the first time. There's some fun stuff going on here but the guy's vocal is just too hilarious - I mean, Fred Durst managed to sound a little more convincing than this (once in a while). I mean if it's supposed to be a sendup then it's kind of pure genius, the whole jerk parent character distilled down to "Rick," presumably the stepdad. Is this like a one-off novelty track in the midst of an album of other things or does the band always sound like this? Gotta say I like this best when it's just the riffing or the long break 2/3 of the way through where the guy is buried more in the guitars.

And now "Empire State of Mind," which I've heard in passing a good half-dozen times but never paid close attention. It's nice - good hook (and little throwaway verse/bridge from Alicia) but goes on a bit too long and nothing Jay said turned my head, y'know? The verses were just sorta there. This kinda says it:

i think people itt are giving ESOM a much harder time than it deserves. yes there's at least two too many hova verses, and they do get worse as the song goes on, but it's a fully functional pop song that's fun to listen to mostly because of the great chorus but also because of the bouncy, sunny beat.

― samosa gibreel, Sunday, January 31, 2010 6:09 PM Bookmark

Now listening to "Arming Eritrea" for the first time. There's some fun stuff going on here but the guy's vocal is just too hilarious - I mean, Fred Durst managed to sound a little more convincing than this (once in a while).

sb'd

:( I take back my endorsement of your Jay-Z feat Alicia Keys opinion.

i don't really know how to approach your critique of arming eritrea except to say that fotl might just not be the band for you

Well, do they always do that squeaky-voiced puberty rock thing? Because I like the guitars and the drums and stuff.

i didn't actually sb you doctor casino, but i don't know if unconvincing is the most relevant criticism to aim at fotl of, they're just drunk sarcastic british assholes. also, you really don't like the bridge in 'empire state of mind'? it's easily my favourite part of the song.

xp i mean yes, that is his voice. i'm totally baffled that you find it so young-sounding.

squeaky-voiced puberty rock thing

lol i feel like we aren't even talking about the same band

Oh, no - I was saying the little bridge was one of the "nice" things in the song. Sorry, that was sorta confusing.

casino you should see them live, when half the time he doesn't bother to sing the words, but just shouts NYAAARARARARARA into the mic

Back on FOTL (typed FSOL like three times) - knowing that they're drunk sarcastic assholes kinda helps put the song in context. Huh.

glad i could help. i mean, i think the sentiment of this song in partic is earnest, but the "fuck you, you asshole"-song type of earnest.

that's funny because there's a live version in this thread! the vocal kicks ass, though it does sound like it's going to fall apart at any second (both of which are a coupla things contrasting with f.d. lol)

xxp

Yeah, I mean - I guess for me it just sounds like he's mad that his step-dad won't let him borrow the car to go to Arby's. But I guess I'm alone on that one.

that contrast is what makes him a such great singer--anger on the verge of hysterics.

yes, you are alone on that one.

My favorite part of the Mayer/Swift article upthread:

John can't have sex with Taylor Swift. She's a symbol of everything that's right and pure about America. It's like having sex with a bald eagle.

IT'S LIKE HAVING SEX WITH A BALD EAGLE

http://www.ilovecopperplategothicbold.com/images/december_07/crying_bald_eagle_cgb.jpg

Ooh, "Rockin That Shit" is great! Listening to this one on repeat. Thanks, ILM!